


heart forecast

by venusbot



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Kuroo Tetsurou is a Good Friend, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Nonbinary Character, Trans Hinata Shouyou, Trans Male Character, Tutoring, background kuroyaku, he's a modern day cupid, how dumb and oblivious can one teen boy be? read now to find out!, like in parasite :), matchmaker kenma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-18 21:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22633810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/venusbot/pseuds/venusbot
Summary: Kuro just laughed at him again. “Do you know who you’re supposed to be tutoring?”“Yeah,” Kenma  replied, finally getting up from where he was lying face-first on the bed. He fished his phone out of his pocket and opened it up to his email, where he’d received all the details of the student-tutor program from his teacher, and held it up to show it to Kuro.“Hinata Shouyou.”A matchmaker does their job best when they're completely removed from the idea of romance. At least, that was what Kenma had believed for the past four years of his life—until Shouyou came around.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kozume Kenma
Comments: 65
Kudos: 311





	1. here comes the sun

**Author's Note:**

> **happy valentine's day!**
> 
> this fic was orginally supposed to be.. less than 10k words.. but here we are instead ahaha. a few things before u start:  
> \- this is an au, so there aren't really any volleyball teams involved  
> \- the title 'heart forecast' comes from [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJf4wCdLU18)  
> \- i also made a [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27RBSt5AQRiXFHVGHDrJCF?si=Oc0oFkKfRD6EDEv_kqQZKw) for the fic!  
> \- each chapter is named after a song from the playlist :-)  
> \- if you spot any inconsistencies/out of character moments then dont hesitate to let me know!!! i love criticism 
> 
> happy reading <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [chapter song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUNqsfFUwhY) (yes, i also have a fic titled this. mind your business)

“What if she’s allergic to roses?”

“She’s not allergic to roses.”

“What if _I’m_ allergic to roses?” 

Kenma stared at her. “No, you’re not, Yumehara…” 

It was lunch, two minutes before the clock struck one and the students would have to return to their classes. Kenma’s classmate had asked him for some advice—whether she should confess to her long-time friend and crush, Kokomi. Kenma had said that it would, and here she was, asking him how she should do it. 

“That sounds too bold, I don’t think I—”

She broke off into a ramble after that, repeating the same things again and again, and Kenma waited until she paused for breath before quietly saying, “Confessing to your friend of three years is bold enough as it is.” 

Surrendering, Yumehara ran a hand through her hair and exhaled. “Honestly, I have no idea how people do it.”

Kenma tightened his hold on his backpack, not sure how to respond to that. “Good luck.” 

Almost as if on cue, the bell rang. Yumehara let out a yelp of surprise and dashed away to her next class, promising Kenma that she’d confess by tomorrow, and he only allowed himself to let out a sigh of relief once she’d gone. Turning around, he headed towards his own class, hoping that he wasn’t too late. 

Thankfully, his teacher hadn’t arrived to the class yet, and Kenma slid quietly into his seat at the back of the class and took out his notebook and class supplies. Next to him, Kuro stretched and grinned. “Who was it this time?” 

Deftly avoiding the other boy’s unfairly long limbs, he replied, “Yumehara. Flowers.” 

“Is she giving them to Mera?”

“Kokomi,” Kenma corrected, shaking his head. 

Kuro let out a low whistle at that. “Bet you saw that coming, huh,” 

“Of course. Kokomi likes her back, but she’s too scared to say anything.” 

“Well, I’m happy for them,” Kuro said, smiling and leaning back on his chair, feet up on the table. Kenma wrinkled his nose at that. Smelly.

“Yeah. They might break up in 8 months.” 

That got a weird groan-laugh-sigh out of Kuro, who complained, “ _Why_ do you always have to ruin it?” 

“It’s simple math,” replied Kenma, dodging Kuro’s fingers from where the other boy was trying to flick his forehead. “Most people in the world have more exes than committed lifelong partners, and therefore there are more failed relationships than ones that succeed.”

Kuro snorted, giving up on trying to hit Kenma and slumping back into his chair again instead. “You’re such an edgelord,” 

Kenma frowned, about to reply, when their teacher walked into the class. Kuro almost fell over in his hurry to get his feet off the table before she noticed. Kenma wished he could say that he was not so petty as to laugh at that. 

Class was boring, as it always was, and after it ended, Kenma was just about to head out the door when his teacher pulled him aside and asked him to stay behind for a bit. Kuro raised an eyebrow in question when he saw, but Kenma gestured for him to go ahead and not bother waiting for him. 

“Kozume-san, your scores this year have been flawless,” his teacher started, and that should have been his first sign that something was going on. Kenma shifted on his feet, fingers tightening on the strap of his backpack once again. He wasn’t very good with compliments. 

“I’ve discussed this with a few other teachers, and we all feel like our school would truly benefit from your help,” she continued. Kenma wondered where she was going with this. “Which is why we want you to sign up for the student-tutor program, as a tutor.” 

Kenma felt his throat dry up. “I—” 

“I’d ask you to really consider this, as it would be beneficial for both you and the other students’ grades.” 

There was nothing Kenma wanted more at that moment than for the earth to open up and swallow him whole. He desperately did _not_ want to sign up for the program - he was already forced to talk to way more people than he wanted on a daily basis, and this would just result in more work and more _talking._ And when he opened his mouth to reply to his teacher, he swore that he was about to say no and decline the whole offer—but what came out instead was “Sure.” 

It took everything within his willpower to not hit his head against a wall at that very moment. 

His teacher, however, looked extremely pleased with the turn of events. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down!” 

Kenma just looked at his feet. 

* * *

“You _what?”_

“Don’t make me repeat it,” Kenma muttered, burrowing his head deeper into the blankets on Kuro’s bed. They smelled familiar and warm, and he could _really_ do with some familiarity and warmth at that moment. 

Kuro was laughing at him, spinning around on his chair and shaking his head. “Man, you have really got to learn how to say no.”

“I _know_ ,” Kenma groaned, words muffled by the pillow under his face. “But if I’d said no I’d have to come up with an excuse and she’d probably hate me for the rest of the year, and that’s just. Too much effort.” 

Kuro just laughed again, used to responses like this from his best friend. “Do you know who you’re supposed to be tutoring?” 

“Yeah,” he replied, finally getting up from where he was lying face-first on the bed. He fished his phone out of his pocket and opened it up to his email, where he’d received all the details of the student-tutor program from his teacher, and held it up to show it to Kuro. 

“Hinata Shouyou.” 

Taking the phone from him, Kuro hummed in consideration. “He’s probably new, never heard of him before.” 

Rolling his eyes and plucking the phone out of the other’s hands, Kenma replied, “You don’t know _everyone_ in the school, you know.” 

“Actually, I’m pretty sure I do.” 

Kenma stuck his tongue out at him. Kuro responded with the same. 

After a few more minutes of silence, during which Kenma managed to finish another cup on the Mario Kart app, Kuro spoke up once again. 

“Oh, hey, you’ll be able to fill in your human almanac! You haven’t added someone new in a while, right?” 

Looking up from his phone, Kenma said, “Don’t call it that. It’s weird.” 

“Your people handbook? Weirdly stalkerish secret diary?” 

“It’s just a notebook _._ ” 

“One hell of a notebook, for sure. Hey, speaking of—I haven’t seen it in a while, where have you been hiding it?” 

Said notebook was currently squished underneath a week’s worth of homework, pencil shavings, and food crumbs. It took Kenma approximately three minutes to salvage it out of his backpack, during which Kuro took the opportunity to tease him about his disgustingly messy habits. When he finally found it, he threw it unceremoniously onto the bed, where it lay in all its glory. 

See, this notebook was definitely not “ _just a notebook”._ It was better suited to the names which Kuro had picked out for it—an almanac which contained five years worth of intensely detailed information on every single person which Kenma had been acquainted with. 

No one else knew about the notebook except for him and Kuro: it had been birthed right here in his very room, after all. A 2:00 am conversation about the intricacies of love had found Kenma determined to prove a point to the other boy—that people’s feelings were easily predictable and manipulated. 

“But love comes from the _heart_ ,” Kuro had argued. “You can’t predict the heart.”

“The heart is an organ which pumps blood. Love is just a bunch of chemical reactions in the brain.”

Kuro had simply groaned and said, “You absolute nihilist.”

“We’re in seventh grade, you shouldn’t know that word,” Kenma had replied, narrowly avoiding a forehead flick. 

“We’re in seventh grade, you don’t know how love works yet.” (Kenma remembered thinking about how ugly Kuro’s smug smile after saying that had looked.) 

“You know what,” had been Kenma’s response, as he fetched a blank notebook from his bag and started scribbling down something in his messy handwriting. When he was done, he had closed the notebook and declared, “I’m going to get you a girlfriend by the end of the week.” 

Kuro had laughed at him, then, but Kenma had stayed true to his word and managed to set him up on a date with a cute girl from their class in less than four days. That had mollified Kuro enough to satisfy Kenma, but the other had gotten weirdly invested in the notebook after that. After continuous egging by Kuro to expand it and include entries on other people, Kenma conceded—and his career as the school’s unofficial matchmaker took flight. 

If he was being honest, seeing people fall for each other simply due to his involvement was _satisfying._ While that made him sound like some form of sociopath, he regarded the whole thing as some sort of video game. Everyone around him were characters whom he could manipulate; and it wasn’t exactly hard to put two and two together to see who was pining for who. He’d have stopped updating the notebook long ago if it wasn’t for the fact that it was something to do—it kept him entertained, and that was enough for Kenma. 

Now, as the two of them sat together in Kuro’s room five years after the notebook’s inception, Kenma felt a vague sense of nostalgia prick his heart. Kuro picked up the notebook silently, brushing away the crumbs of potato chips onto the floor, and flipped it open onto the first page. 

**NAME:** Tetsurou Kuroo  
**BIRTHDAY:** November 17 (Scorpio)  
**PERSONALITY TRAITS:** cool on the outside but actually a snake and a loser, cries at most movies, pretentious  
**INTERESTS:** science, gacha games, fish, whatever tv show is popular currently  
**TYPE:** someone who can keep a conversation going, athletic, with a sense of humour  
**IDEAL DATE:** probably playing some sports, or going to the mall and entering shops to try on random accessories  
**CRUSHES:** Mina (grade 6-7), Yaku (grade 10)  
**RELATIONSHIPS:** Mina (grade 7), Akemi (grade 8), Hanako (grade 11)  
**ADDITIONAL NOTES:** will never let go of an embarrassing memory 

Snorting, Kuro flicked through the other pages before finally landing on the last filled page. 

“Approximately 80 entries,” he declared, and Kenma tried not to correct him and say that there were actually 86. “And you’ll be able to add another one to the list when you finally meet this Hinata kid.” 

“Yes, I’m super thrilled,” replied Kenma, in a completely deadpan voice. It was hard to tell whether he was being serious or not. “Except for the fact that I have to teach him _math_ for the rest of the year.” 

Kuro tch-ed like he was an antagonist in some shounen anime, saying, “Technicalities. You’ll get through it.” 

“Hopefully.” 

* * *

The next day found Kenma waiting in the library after school, messing around on his phone as he waited for his new student to arrive. He would much rather be playing the new game he’d downloaded over the weekend—but he wanted to give it his full attention rather than waste away time. Scrolling through Instagram, he found a picture of Yumehara kissing Kokomi’s cheek with the caption _“guess what”_. A small, proud smile made its way onto his face as he double tapped the screen and commented, “took you two long enough”. 

“Hello!” 

The loud voice startled Kenma enough that he almost dropped his phone in a hurry to turn around. A short, orange-haired boy with a smile that felt like it was pointing a torchlight in his face was standing in front of him, looking expectant. 

Fumbling with his words, Kenma managed to say, “Oh, um. Hello…” 

“Are you Kozume-san?” 

“Just Kenma is fine,” he replied quietly. “You must be Hinata?” 

The other boy’s grin widened, if such a thing was even possible. “Yep! You can call me Shouyou!” 

Kenma was still a bit shaken from his sudden appearance, and his mouth was taking some time to catch up to his brain. “Um, so… math?” 

He winced internally at his inability to hold a normal conversation, but thankfully, Shouyou didn’t seem to mind. The other boy flung his bag onto the table and threw himself into the chair next to Kenma, groaning all the while. “Ugh, _math._ ” 

Kenma resisted the urge to roll his eyes, as overwhelmed as he felt by this tiny, loud spitfire. He had half a mind to just stay quiet throughout the entire session and just let the other boy figure out things on his own—but if there was one thing Kenma hated, it was going back on a promise (also, he really liked his math teacher). So instead of doing what he’d rather be doing, he put aside his phone and pulled out his textbooks, saying, “It’s not that bad.”

“No, it’s the worst! Just a bunch of stupid numbers and shapes and stuff that doesn’t make any sense,” grumbled Shouyou, and Kenma thought that he already knew what sort of person thiswas. Loud, passionate, a little dumb sometimes but with a heart of gold. The sort of person who was the main character in a shounen anime. 

That wasn’t really Kenma’s thing. He’d much rather be the side character who appeared in one season and got killed off in the next. 

“Okay, well…” he started, trailing off. 

He was interrupted before he could figure out what to say next, though: “Yeah, it’s kinda weird, isn’t it? Math is supposed to be all logical and meaningful and stuff.” 

Kenma hummed, not sure what to make of this new development. It wasn’t something he’d expected the other boy to say. “Sure, I guess… but it doesn’t seem weird to me. I’m here to help you anyway, so.” 

Shouyou brightened up considerably at that— _why,_ Kenma had no idea. Maybe he wasn’t as predictable as he originally thought he was. 

“Yeah! I’m glad!”

The next hour passed as quickly as it started, with Kenma slowly easing up to the other boy and working through his troubles in math. He learnt that Shouyou was actually quite bright, and grasped concepts easily—his only trouble was that he _forgot_ them as easily, too. He wasn’t the worst person to work with, though, and Kenma found himself thinking that maybe the whole tutor program wasn’t a huge waste of time. 

Shouyou scrunched up his nose, and Kenma noticed that he had light freckles around his cheeks. He filed that information away for later, instead focusing on what he was being asked. 

“How do you solve this one?” 

He was pointing at a question in the textbook, a simple factorising one. “Middle-term splitting. Here, I’ll—”

“Kenma!” 

Two heads, one half blonde and the other orange, turned at the sound of the voice. Kenma was greeted with the sight of his best friend, a school bag slung across his shoulder, which immediately prompted a sigh from him. He’d almost forgotten that the other was supposed to pick him up. “Kuro.” 

He could feel Shouyou’s questioning look on him, so he turned back around to say, “I gotta go. It’s already been an hour, can we continue later?” 

Shouyou nodded, with the same vigour that he did everything else. “Sure! When?” 

“Uh…” Kenma hesitated. “Is Thursday okay?” 

“Yeah, perfect!” 

Gathering up his things and getting ready to leave, Kenma glanced at Shouyou. He was staring at his notebook ferociously, as if he could make it give up all its answers with a single look. Kenma smiled, and Shouyou looked up as if he’d just noticed that he was there. 

“See you later, Shouyou.” 

* * *

“So? How was the tutoring session?”

“It was fine.” 

Kuro groaned, throwing a pillow at Kenma from where he was lying at the bottom of his bed. Kenma ignored it, too engrossed in the video game currently in his hand—he was only a few XP away from leveling up and he wasn’t about to let stupid Kuro get in his way of doing that. 

“Come on, there at the library you actually looked focused for once! I expected you to be half asleep when I came to pick you up.” 

He didn’t get an answer for another few minutes, because Kenma was still fixated on his pixels. As soon as the banner proclaiming “LEVEL 92” came on, he set the game aside and flopped over on his belly to face Kuro, finally satisfied. 

“It _was_ fine.” Seeing Kuro’s glare, Kenma searched for something else to say. “Not as bad as I’d thought it would be.”

“You don’t exactly have high standards for anything.” 

“See, that’s a survival skill. Never have high expectations and you can never be let down by anything.” 

Kuro groaned, and Kenma held back a smug grin. “You mean you’re just too lazy to actually care about things.”

“Maybe.” 

“Ugh. How was the kid?”

That made Kenma pause. How was he supposed to describe Hinata Shouyou? “He was… interesting.” 

Kuro gaped at him, and Kenma was starting to regret saying anything at all. “ _Interesting?_ Coming from you, that’s like comparing him to _god_.” 

“I’m just being honest.” 

“At which you so excel. Did you add anything about him in the almanac?” 

Kenma shook his head. “Not yet.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Those blank pages aren’t sitting around for nothing. Fill them in with the ink they desire,” finished Kuro, with a flourish. Kenma threw the pillow back at him. 

“I’ll add him in when there’s something to add.” 

Raising an eyebrow, Kuro asked, “What, you’re telling me that your one-and-a-half-hour study date wasn’t enough for you to read his mind?” 

Kenma ignored the ‘date’ comment. He ignored most things Kuro said—another survival skill he’d picked up over the years. Instead, he replied, “I thought I had him down, but he’s a lot harder to read than I expected.” 

“And why do you think that is?” 

He only shrugged in response, already bored of the conversation. 

“You are so odd,” replied Kuro, and Kenma frowned. “You staying over for dinner?” 

And just like that, the subject changed. 

Later that night, when he’d returned home after eating a particularly delicious meal at Kuro’s, Kenma pulled out his notebook from his backpack. There weren’t a lot of empty pages left, but it’d fit a few more people just yet. 

**NAME:** Hinata Shouyou  
**BIRTHDAY:**  
**PERSONALITY TRAITS:** loud  
**INTERESTS:**  
**TYPE:**  
**IDEAL DATE:**  
**CRUSHES:**  
**RELATIONSHIPS:**  
**ADDITIONAL NOTES:**

It wasn’t a lot, so far, but he’d get there. 


	2. we're going to be friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [chapter song one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKfD8d3XJok) and [chapter song two](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaP1VswBF28)

Once Kenma knew that Shouyou existed, it became a lot harder to miss him in the hallways. He’d started seeing the other boy everywhere he went, whether it be a quick smile and a wave in between classes or running into each other at the grocery store. 

“What are you looking at?” Kuro had asked, once, when they’d both been at the store running errands Kuro’s mom. It wasn’t unusual for Kenma to join Kuro on trips like these, seeing as the other’s family had basically adopted him. 

“Nothing,” Kenma had muttered, but he knew it wasn’t convincing. Kuro had brushed it off, though, and continued piling up items into the cart. His mom was a monster when it came to the kitchen (the good kind).

As soon as they stepped out of the store, Kenma had informed Kuro, “That was Shouyou.” 

“Who was who now?” 

“The store clerk. That was Shouyou. The kid I’m tutoring.” 

Kuro’s eyebrows had shot up, as they tended to do, but it had been replaced with a wicked grin none too soon. “He’s cute.” 

Kenma had punched him, then, but mentally he was still adding notes to Shouyou’s page in his notebook. 

Luckily enough, their tutoring sessions were going pretty well too, although a bit more sparse recently—midterms were only a week away, and Kenma was busier than usual. (Not that he was usually busy, but still.) He’d been spending most of his time at Kuro’s house, “studying” and playing video games. 

It was during one of these studying-and-playing-video-games sessions that Kuro asked, “There’s a new sushi place that opened up recently down the street, wanna go check it out later?” 

Kenma gave a non-committal “hm” in response, not looking up from his screen, only to get a marker thrown at him. Turning to glare at his best friend, who was giving him a syrupy-sweet smile as if he wasn’t the devil himself, he replied, “Yes.” 

“Good,” Kuro said, breezily. “Hey, you haven’t been on one of your study dates with chibi in a while.” 

‘Chibi’ could only refer to one person, and Kenma resisted the urge to correct Kuro on the fact that it was simply a tutoring session and not, as he put it, a _date_. It wasn’t like he would listen, anyway, so Kenma just replied, “We’ve both been busy with other things.”

Kuro raised an eyebrow at him, the kind that said, _I know you, and I know that’s a bullshit excuse._ Kenma hated it. “You’re never busy.” 

“It’s finals week, of course I’m busy.” 

That got a snort out of Kuro, and Kenma resisted the urge to throw a pillow at him. In his patronising voice, he said, “When have you ever taken your exams seriously, Kenma?” 

He was just about to reply with something snarky when the _ding_ of a text notification broke through his thoughts. Kenma reached over for his phone from where it was lying on Kuro’s bedside table, and immediately smiled upon seeing the cat picture that Shouyou had sent him. 

Oh. Right. That was a New Thing, the texting. Eventually, the two of them had gotten tired of pre-planning all their study sessions, what with Shouyou’s extracurriculars and Kenma’s… well, whatever, it was _tiring._ Exchanging numbers was just supposed to make it easier to organise when they were both free to meet up, but then Shouyou had sent him a picture of a cat with a small turtle sitting on its back and Kenma had briefly considered asking for his hand in marriage. 

Before Kenma could find another cat picture to send Shouyou in response, though, Kuro had already sneaked up to him and was trying to peek at his screen. “Who the hell are you texting?”

“Shouyou.” 

Kuro wolf-whistled at that, and this time, Kenma really did throw a pillow over at him. Of course, he dodged it easily. Bastard. 

“First the study dates, then first-name basis, and now texting… aren’t you guys doing things in the opposite order?” 

Kenma really wished he had another pillow to throw at him. Instead, he flipped him off and scrolled through his camera roll to find the photo of the cat wrapped up in a blanket twenty times bigger than him, and sent it off to Shouyou.

Another _ding_. That was quick.

 **shouyou (15:16)**  
wanna get sushi together later???? 

Kenma frowned, because they’d never met up outside of tutoring in a _planned_ way. The little typing bubble in front of Shouyou’s icon was still lit up, though, so he waited before formulating a reply of his own.

 **shouyou (15:17)**  
theres this new place & it looks SO GOOD!!  
we could study there instead of at the library!!!!! 

Oh, so only for tutoring. That made Kenma feel a little more at ease with the situation, and he started typing out a reply. Kuro was still looking over his shoulder, though, so he didn’t have to think for long—his best friend was already telling him what he should respond with. 

“Say _yes_ , you idiot!” 

He turned his frown over to Kuro, who had a disgustingly gleeful grin spread over his friend. Exasperated, Kenma asked, “Why are you so weirdly invested in this?” 

“Because you’re finally making friends outside of our group! It’s like seeing a bird learn how to fly,” replied Kuro, in his signature patronising tone. It only made Kenma’s frown deepen. 

“I _do_ have friends outside of you guys, you know,” he said, trying not to sound as bitter as he felt. “You don’t have to baby me all the time.” 

Kuro’s teasing grin immediately turned apologetic, and Kenma almost felt a little guilty. (Almost.) “You’re right, sorry,” he said, ruffling Kenma’s hair. “Went a little overboard. Still gonna tease you about this, though.”

Kenma sighed, but it was fonder this time around. “You’re a menace. I’m going, obviously. It’s just another tutoring session.”

A loud whoop sounded through the air, and Kenma winced at how loud his best friend could be sometimes. 

“It’s a date!” 

“Shut up, Tetsurou.” 

* * *

The restaurant felt like the inside of a furnace—or at least, that was the first thing that Shouyou told Kenma when he’d sat down next to him. It was the afternoon of the next day, and autumn had not been treating them the same. 

“It’s more like a refrigerator than a furnace,” Kenma said, setting his bag on the floor next to the table. 

Shouyou just gaped at him, and Kenma resisted the urge to poke his cheek. “Are you kidding?! It’s like seventy degrees!” 

“I’m pretty sure it’s around 25 degrees, actually.” 

“That's worse! I think!” 

Huffing out a laugh through his nose, Kenma replied, “I’m so glad I don’t have to teach you science.” 

Shouyou pouted up at him, and Kenma’s fingers were itching to poke his cheeks again; he willed them to still against his thigh. 

It wasn’t long before the two of them fell into easy conversation—gone were the times when Kenma would overthink every single word and up stumbling or not saying anything at all. Something about Shouyou made him warm up to the other easily, and he held a conversation well. It was only when their second plates of sushi arrived that Kenma realised they’d been talking for almost forty-five minutes and _still_ hadn’t started on any math. 

Not that he wanted to, of course. He was just… confused. As loathe as he was to admit it, Kuro was right—Kenma didn’t really hang out with many people. It took him some time to warm up to new people, but Shouyou’s intensity seemed to have burned through his walls within minutes. He didn’t know how to feel about that, but so far? Knowing Shouyou felt _good_. 

His thoughts were interrupted by the other boy clapping his hands together and finally saying, “By the way! Guess what, Kenma!” 

Pretending to think for a moment, Kenma replied, “Chicken butt.” 

Shouyou remained unfazed, and Kenma bit down on a smile. “I got a 53 in my last math test!” 

“Huh, that’s really good,” Kenma said, and he truly meant his words. To think that only two months ago, Shouyou’s highest grade in math had been a 21. 

The response only made Shouyou beam brighter, and Kenma resisted the urge to reach into his bag for some sunglasses. (Not that he even had a pair, but it would’ve been useful for the metaphor.) “It’s all thanks to you, Kenma!” 

“That’s not true,” replied Kenma, honestly. “I only showed you where you went wrong. Deciding to correct your mistakes and work harder was all you.” 

Shouyou went quiet for a few seconds, and Kenma briefly wondered if he’d said something wrong. It wasn’t long before his worries were quelled, with Shouyou borderline-yelling, “You’re really awesome!” 

The immediate blush that shot through Kenma’s cheeks was _only_ a result of how sudden the compliment was. Not trusting himself to speak without potentially embarrassing himself, he mumbled out what might have been acceptable as a short “thank you”. 

Luckily for him, Shouyou chose not to comment on it, and instead turned the conversation to another topic. “Let’s do some more math now so I can get a 60 next time!” 

Math. Familiar ground. Kenma felt himself relax a little, and he said, “Yeah. Let’s get you a 60.” 

They spent the next hour and a half going through the mistakes that Shouyou had made on his test and correcting them, and whenever Shouyou was busy working on a problem of his own, Kenma took the opportunity to finish his own homework. Normally, he wouldn’t have bothered, but something about seeing Shouyou get so passionate about a little thing like math and strive to do better made _him_ want to try harder, too. 

It wasn’t long before their time came to an end, with Shouyou suddenly glancing towards the clock in the restaurant and exclaiming, “I’m going to be late for practice!” 

A twitch of curiosity made Kenma ask, “Practice for what?”

Shouyou paused in collecting up his belongings to turn and give Kenma a big grin. “Volleyball!” 

Huh. That was interesting. 

“I used to play volleyball,” he said, because what did he have to lose? 

“ _REALLY?”_ Shouyou’s hand was hovering over his textbook, as if he wasn’t sure whether to put it back into his bag or throw it on the floor in excitement. An expected reaction. 

Kenma smiled, answering, “Yeah. Setter.” 

“Whoa, that’s so cool!” replied Shouyou, and he genuinely sounded awed. “You’re so different from my setter, he’s all _grrr_ and _Hinata you idiot!_ but you’re so… nice.” 

‘Nice’ wasn’t really a word people used to describe Kenma often, and he willed himself to not blush like an idiot again. He wasn’t really sure what to say, though, so he just went with an “Oh.” 

“Why did you stop playing, though? I bet you were amazing!”

Kenma shrugged. “Got bored.” 

Shouyou frowned, then, and Kenma thought that it might have been the first time he’d ever seen the other boy look so genuinely baffled by anything. “How could anyone ever get bored of volleyball?” 

Before Kenma could get the chance to reply, however, a shrill alarm-like sound filled the restaurant—and the source of the noise seemed to be Shouyou’s phone. Yelping loudly, he ran towards the exit, calling behind him, “I have to go now! Bye! See you later!” 

Kenma was left behind at the table, sitting in silence. 

* * *

“How was the date, Kozume!” 

The far-too-loud voice of Bokuto Koutarou filled his ears as he stepped into Kuro’s room, and Kenma tried not to groan. After Shouyou had left the restaurant, Kenma had stayed there for another hour or so levelling up on the game he was currently obsessed with. He had been planning on going straight home after that, but he didn’t really feel like facing his parents at the moment. Maybe that was a mistake. 

He flopped head first onto the bed, replying in a muffled voice, “The tutoring session was fine, thanks, Bokuto.” 

Kenma could vaguely register Kuro snickering at him from across the room, but he didn’t have the energy to flip him off. 

“Ah, the denial phase,” Bokuto said sagely, voice dripping with mock patronisation. Kenma loved Bokuto, he really did—but right now, he wished he would just shut the fuck up. He was tired and upset and hungry and just wanted to sleep for the next twelve years. 

Kuro said something to Bokuto that Kenma was too lazy to decipher, but both of them shut up after that, going back to playing Mario Kart like they’d been doing before Kenma had entered. He felt a bit guilty for being so short with them, but he knew that they were used to his moods. The video game music, punctuated with occasional curses from both players, were both noises that were intensely familiar to Kenma, and it wasn’t long before he was sound asleep. 

When he woke up, Bokuto was long gone and the gaming console switched off. The room was dimly lit, and out of the corner of his eye, Kenma could see Kuro hunched over at his desk, furiously scribbling away at a piece of paper. Not wanting to disturb him, Kenma blinked his eyes and reached out for his phone as quietly as he could. 

Upon opening it, he was greeted with three new text messages from Shouyou, one Instagram direct message from Himari about her crush, and two missed calls from his mom. 

He ignored the calls and the DM and clicked on Shouyou’s texts. 

**shouyou (17:03)**  
SORRY FOR LEAVING SO SOON!!!!! 

**shouyou (17:09)**  
i had lots of fun today!!!! we should do it again!!!!!!!

 **shouyou (18:26)**

****

The picture of the cats made Kenma smile against his own will, and he reached out to write a reply of his own. There was some part of him that was a little confused as to why Shouyou had said that they should ‘do it again’—after all, tutor sessions were mandatory until the end of the year. He told that part of him to shut up. 

**kenma (19:30)**  
its okay. i had fun too

He’d just clicked out of the chat to go and respond to Himari, but Shouyou’s reply was almost instantaneous. 

**shouyou (19:30)**  
HEY!!! YOU GOT HOME SAFE?? 

**kenma (19:30)**  
yeah, played some more video games as well

 **shouyou (19:30)**  
nice!!!! 

**shouyou (19:31)**  
i finjshed all my math hw!!!!  
60 HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!

 **kenma (19:31)**  
it’ll take more than finishing your homework on time to get a 60

 **shouyou (19:31)**  
AND I’LL DO ALL OF IT!!!!!!  
also!!!  
theres a milshake place we should go to!!!!!!!  
not for tutoring tho. lets enjoy it!!!!

 **kenma (19:31)**  
that sounds nice

They continued texting for a little while before the conversation took its natural death, and Kenma tried not to think too hard about what he’d just agreed to. Mostly he was jittery because Kuro would _definitely_ tease him harder about this than anything else, but also, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to when they were hanging out without their binding factor: math. 

He found himself scrolling back up to the picture of the two cats cuddled up together in the sink, and smiled again. (He’d been doing a lot of that recently—his face muscles were going to tire themselves out at this rate.) For some reason, he had an intuition that things weren’t going to go as bad as he feared they might. 

But then he caught sight of the “two missed calls” notification, and his mood plummeted again. 

“Hey, loverboy, you done texting your boyfriend yet?” Kuro’s voice interrupted his thoughts, a welcome distraction (for once). 

“There are many things wrong with that sentence, but I am too lazy to point them out for you.” 

“As expected,” Kuro replied, spinning his chair over to face Kenma from where he was still lying down on the bed. “You feeling any better?” 

“Yeah,” Kenma answered, honestly. 

“Good. Mom’s making sukiyaki, you want?” 

“I can’t believe you have to ask that after twelve years of friendship, Tetsurou.” 

Kuro laughed, and said, “It’s only Tetsurou when you want to annoy me.”

“Kuro is a far better name and nickname,” and by this time, Kenma was smiling too.

“Modest, as always.” A pause, and then Kuro’s signature cheeky grin. “How was the sushi?” 

Kenma knew exactly what he meant by ‘sushi’, and he wasn’t about to let Kuro have the upper hand on this one. “Really good, and really cheap. You should go there with Yaku,” he added, as sweetly as he could. 

Watching Kuro sputter and try to swat at him was quite possibly the best thing that Kenma had ever seen, and he could feel his dread at facing his mom again slowly wash away.

He smiled into his pillow, and after a few moments, turned back around to ask, “Can I stay over tonight?” 

“Of course, leech,” came Kuro’s easy reply, and Kenma laughed. 

* * *

Being friends with Hinata Shouyou should have come with an instruction manual, because Kenma wasn’t sure if he could keep up with the spitfire. 

Even though Shouyou was in a grade younger than Kenma (hence the tutoring), he somehow found a way to meet the other after every class and during every break. Kenma saw him with other friends sometimes, a guy with perpetual grumpy face that he thought might be the setter that Shouyou had mentioned earlier, and a blonde girl he recognised as Yachi, from when she’d come to him for help with her crush. But whenever he wasn’t with them, Shouyou was sidling up to Kenma during lunch or texting him cat pictures during class. It was a wonder he didn’t get caught yet, especially with how strict their school was with phones. 

Take the previous day, for example: Kenma had been sitting at his table with Kuro and Yaku for lunch, as he usually did, when Shouyou had appeared in their class seemingly out of nowhere and plopped himself down right next to Kenma. 

He’d been too stunned to say anything, but he could see his friends exchanging devious glances in front of him. Through all of this, Shouyou had remained unbothered, instead telling Kenma, “I got a 60 on my math test!” 

That had managed to shake Kenma out of his stupor enough to reply with a weak, but genuine, “That’s really great.” 

“Well, it was actually a 59, but it rounds up and it’s not very far from a 60!” Shouyou had continued talking, and Kenma could feel Kuro and Yaku looking at the other boy with interest. He’d tried to resist the urge to throw something at them. 

It wasn’t long before Shouyou had introduced himself to everyone at the table — “Hi! I’m Hinata! Kenma’s friend!” — and the moment that Kenma had dreaded for so long came to life before his eyes.

Kuro and Shouyou. Becoming _friends._

He shuddered at the thought from where he was standing now, waiting in line at the bus stop. Yesterday had been full of unexpected surprises, but try as he might to pretend like they bothered him, his heart felt a lot more full than it had in many days. He’d stayed over at Kuro’s again that night, too, not quite ready to face his parents’ expectations yet. 

The bus arrived soon enough, and Kenma made a beeline for the first empty seat that he saw. The milkshake parlour was a bit far from his home, a western-style setup that had opened up recently and was currently all the rage. It made sense that Shouyou liked places like that, and Kenma found himself filing away that information for later use. ( _Notebook_ use, he reminded himself.) 

When the bus finally reached his stop, Kenma found Shouyou standing outside the diner. The thought that the other might have been waiting for him made Kenma feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like he’d had a lot of hot chocolate all at once. He liked hot chocolate.

“Hey! You made it!” were the first words that Shouyou spoke to him, and Kenma offered him a small smile in response. 

“I was looking forward to it,” he said, and he was being honest. 

Shouyou beamed, and Kenma could only stare. He continued talking, something about how good morning practice had been that day, and how his class teacher had complimented him on his work _twice_ that day, and that he could really feel himself improve, y’know? Kenma listened to his spiel without saying anything, but a small part of him felt immensely proud of this insanely capable little redhead. 

He was still talking as they sat down, when he finally took a breath and asked Kenma, “So, what flavour do you want to get?” 

Kenma didn’t have to look at the menu to know his answer. “Chocolate,” he said, almost immediately. Hey, he was a simple man. 

Shouyou laughed, and Kenma wasn’t sure if he was laughing at his choice or at how fast he’d responded. “I think I’ll get strawberry! I’m going to be healthy this year.”

“You do know they don’t use real strawberries? It’s pure sugar, artificial flavour, and artificial colouring.” 

“ _Ehhhh_ ,” groaned Shouyou, making a face. It made his cheeks look extremely pokeable, but Kenma was not about to go down that rabbit hole again. “This is why I don’t drink milkshakes.” 

“I thought you liked milkshakes,” was all Kenma could think to say.

“I _do!_ But I barely ever have them, I mostly drink tea.” 

He raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you were the type to like tea.” 

“Nah, it helps with cramps and stuff when I’m on my period!”

Kenma only nodded, saying, “That makes sense.” He could tell that he’d been trusted with something important, though, and could see from the way that Shouyou’s eyes were looking everywhere except him that he was nervous. His hands were twitching from where they were resting on the table, and Kenma briefly entertained the idea of reaching over and taking them in his own hands. 

But he’d never been particularly brave, so he said, “Let’s get some pancakes, too.” 

Shouyou instantly brightened up at his words, and then spent the next three minutes trying to figure out which pancake would taste the best. Kenma didn’t even like western food, but he interjected with his own opinions every once in a while. He was mostly content to just sit there and watch Shouyou talk about pancakes. (About anything, really.)

Their food came and went, but their conversation never died. If he was being honest, Kenma was surprised that they had so much to talk about between them—but Shouyou was always quick to fill up in any silences with a quip about his day, or a story about his sister, or a complaint about the weather. It was a bit of an unlikely pairing, the wallflower and the sun, but it worked out for the two of them. 

Later that night, when Kenma was back in Kuro’s room and still ignoring the slowly increasing number of missed calls from his mom, he pulled out his notebook. 

**NAME:** Hinata Shouyou  
**BIRTHDAY:** 21 June (Gemini)  
**PERSONALITY TRAITS:** loud, too cheerful, a little dumb but extremely empathetic, scary when focused on something  
**INTERESTS:** volleyball, pokemon, one punch man  
**TYPE:**  
**IDEAL DATE:**  
**CRUSHES:**  
**RELATIONSHIPS:**  
**ADDITIONAL NOTES:** works at a grocery store, likes strawberries 

An improvement, even if he did say so himself.


	3. breaking up my bones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [chapter song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaMGfjiD1p8)
> 
> warning for the contents of this chapter! the first scene involves an unhealthy relationship with parents (because this wouldn't be a venusbot fic if i didn't project on the main character at least once). if that makes you uncomfortable, you can skip to the part after the first line break.

If he’d had it his way, Kenma would have stayed at Kuro’s house for the night, just as he’d done for the past month. There was a new game he’d downloaded on his phone, and he wanted to play it in peace—but one look from Kuro had told him that he wouldn’t be able to get off the hook so easily this time. 

“It’s been weeks, Kenma,” he had said, and he was right.

Kenma wasn’t stupid. He knew that he couldn’t avoid his parents forever, no matter how many impromptu sleepovers at Kuro’s he went for or how many times he sneaked back into the house late into the night, without anyone noticing. He knew all of this, but he still didn’t think he was prepared for the final showdown. 

Kuro had insisted on accompanying him until his front door, citing something about moral support, and Kenma was secretly grateful that he’d come with him. He knew he’d have to face his parents on his own, though, so he took a deep breath and unlocked his front door, stepping into his house and heading for the living room.

“Your literature teacher called,” was the first thing his mom said to him after three weeks. No  _ hello _ , no  _ how are you _ , no  _ we were worried _ . It wasn’t really a surprise, and he didn’t really care, but it still stung a little. 

His dad was sitting on a chair by the dining table, and his mom was standing. Kenma was standing, too, but he felt a lot smaller than his mom. She didn’t let him reply (not that he was planning to), and continued talking instead.

“She says you’re losing your concentration. You haven’t scored well on your exams this time.”

None of this information was new to Kenma. He’d been losing his concentration because class was boring, and he hadn’t scored well because he hadn’t studied. Literature didn’t interest him—at least, not what they made him read in school. So, he didn’t study for it. 

His dad spoke up from where he was sitting, voice louder than it should have been, and Kenma tried not to flinch. “We saw your other grades too. You’re doing good in math, but you can be better.” 

He’d gotten a 96 on his math exam. 

“You have so much potential, Kenma. Don’t waste it on your silly video games.” 

He didn’t say anything, because he didn’t exactly know  _ what  _ to say. He didn’t know how to make her understand that when something didn’t capture his attention, he physically couldn’t get up to do that one thing. It wasn’t out of a desire to be difficult, or just general laziness, but more that just the thought of doing it made him feel like he might go insane. He didn’t know how to explain the white noise that filled his brain every time he tried to do something that he was supposed to do. And he really didn’t know how to explain that the added pressure of fitting his parent’s standards didn’t exactly help his situation, but only made it harder.

Of course, his mother interpreted his silence as insolence. “I don’t even know why we bother with you anymore.” 

The sentence didn’t hurt as much as it would have at one point of time, and Kenma wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. His heart still twinged uncomfortably, and he wanted nothing more than to go up to his room and preferably not look at either of his parents for another three weeks. 

He didn’t really know what he was expected to say, and his parents looked like they were done with him, so Kenma took the opportunity to shoulder his backpack a little higher and head to his own room. He could hear his parents whisper among themselves after he left, but he didn’t care enough to try and decipher what they were saying. 

A year and a half. Then he’d finally be out of this cage. 

Kenma rolled over on the bed from where he’d flopped himself, and reached over to his bedside table for his phone. There were a couple texts from Kuro, asking if everything was okay, and he found a smile unwittingly making itself onto his face. 

**lizard man (20:03)** **  
** Hey fuckface u good?    
Tell me if I need to come over and suck up to aunty

**kenma (20:28)** **  
** things are not the best but they are the same old

**lizard man (20:28)**   
So no sweet talking your mom :(

**kenma (20:28)**   
not needed. you can rest easy

**lizard man (20:28)**   
Aw ok   
You wanna come over and play smash bros later?

**kenma (20:29)**   
maybe 

He clicked out of the chat, a weird bubble of emotion threatening to make its way over to his throat. He couldn’t quite place what it was, but it felt like when you drank too much water, and you felt like you were full and like the water might come up and out of your mouth any second. It was uncomfortably specific. 

Flopping over onto his stomach again, Kenma ignored all the other texts he’d received from people and headed straight for one of the idle game apps he’d downloaded the other day. It wasn’t particularly complicated, or interesting—it was just a way to pass the time and keep his mind off other things. Normally, it worked like a charm, but the emotions bubble still didn’t take its leave. 

Grunting, Kenma exited the game and tapped on the contacts app with a little more aggression than was needed. He clicked the top number without even looking at it, sure of who he was dialing.  _ He better pick up _ . 

“Hello!” 

Wait a minute. “This isn’t Kuro.” 

Shouyou’s laugh greeted him from the other end of the call. “You’re breaking my heart, Kenma!” 

Kenma smiled nervously, before realising that this was an audio call and the other couldn’t see his face. (He was already regretting this.) The top number was supposed to be whichever person he contacted the most, which meant—yeah, he refused to think about that right now. 

“Sorry, I meant to call Kuro, but clicked on your number accidentally.” 

“It’s okay, I don’t mind! I was about to text you, anyway,” Shouyou replied, cheerful as always. A little bit of the bubble in his throat melted away, replaced instead with a quiet anxiety about being on a phone call. He was  _ terrible  _ at calling people, and Kuro was the only one he ever talked to on the phone—but Shouyou had already come with so many new changes in his life that Kenma figured another couldn’t hurt. 

“So, what’s up!” 

To be honest or to lie and pretend that everything was alright? That was the question, indeed, and Kenma blamed his already disoriented state for his reply. “Nothing, just needed a distraction. How have you been?” 

“Oh, something really funny happened today, actually! Mom made me onigiri in the morning, but when I was cycling to school…” 

He continued with his story in all its detail, punctuating it with sound effects wherever he could. Kenma interjected with his reactions sometimes, but for the most part, he just listened to Shouyou talk about his day. He could already feel the tension from interacting with his parents lift from his shoulders, and he put his phone on speaker so he could listen to Shouyou more comfortably.

It wasn’t long before Kenma found it harder to keep his eyes open, the familiar excited chatter filling his ears and relaxing his senses. He could feel himself getting drowsy, and soon enough, his soft snores filled the other end of the line. 

Kenma fell asleep with a smile on his face—but if he’d stayed awake a bit longer, he’d have been able to hear the soft, “Good night, Kenma,” whispered into his ear.

* * *

The next morning passed without much fanfare. Kenma had gotten up as early as he could to avoid his family, which wasn’t hard, since he’d ended up passing out by 10:00 pm the previous night—a feat almost unknown for him. By the time he’d left the house with a hastily-wrapped nori rice roll in hand, he’d almost forgotten about everything that had gone down with his parents earlier. 

Kuro greeted him with a smack to the head by the school’s front gate, one that Kenma returned with even more vigour. That led to Kuro complaining all the way until they reached their class: not exactly a welcome background noise, but a normal one. Classes passed uneventfully, too, only with a suspicious lack of Shouyou in between them—Kenma tried to convince himself that it was just because the other was busy and not because he’d creeped him out with his random call the night before. 

It was only during lunch that things took a turn for the different: better or worse, Kenma couldn’t tell you. 

Seeing Lev Haiba waiting for him in his class should have been the first red flag, honestly. Kenma wouldn’t say he  _ disliked _ him—but he didn’t particularly like him, either. The younger boy was new to the school, but he’d had the unfortunate chance of meeting him through Yaku years earlier. For some reason, he’d become obsessed with gaining Kenma’s attention, and now he was subject to Lev’s constant rambling whenever the two were placed together. 

Right now, though, Lev was being strangely quiet. He was fidgeting in a way that was characteristic to him, but suggested that he was a bit more nervous than he let on—and it only increased in frequency as Kenma and Kuro neared their table. 

“I need your help,” was the first thing that Lev blurted out to Kenma when they were finally within speaking distance. 

“Yeah, I figured.” 

They were both silent for a moment, and Kuro watched them with an amused look in his eyes. Realising that Lev wasn’t about to say anything else, Kenma sighed, and continued, “What do you need?” 

“I have a crush.” 

Another sigh. Go figure. “Who is it?” 

Lev’s eyes flicked towards Kuro, and back towards Kenma, before finally saying, “Hinata Shouyou.” 

Kuro let out a peal of laughter that attracted the attention of a few neighbouring lunch tables, and Lev’s blush intensified by tenfold. Kenma didn’t say anything, because he didn’t really know what he should be saying.

He supposed, in hindsight, he should have seen it coming. Shouyou was kind to almost everyone, energetic and fun to talk to, and even  _ cute _ —Kenma wasn’t blind. It shouldn’t be a surprise that someone had a crush on him, so why did Kenma feel like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice cold water all over him?

Lev cleared his throat, and Kenma finally realised that he’d been zoning out too long to be considered socially acceptable. He could feel his heart beating a little faster, only enhanced by the weird look that Kuro was sending his way, but he ignored both of them in favour of replying to Lev. 

“Right, um,” he started, unsure why his throat felt so dry all of a sudden. “You two have pretty similar personalities, so you should get along just fine. How did you meet him?” 

“We’re in the same class,” Lev admitted, looking a little more relaxed than he’d been a few minutes ago. “You really think I have a chance?”

_ Rationalise, Kenma.  _ They were both loud, easy to get along with (if a little too much at times), overly passionate about things they liked, and—if Kenma remembered correctly—they both liked volleyball. All things considered, the two of them should be a perfect couple, and the tight feeling in his chest was probably just a result of the slowly changing weather. 

Which is why he replied with an honest, “Yes.” 

Lev’s shoulders sagged with relief, and he looked like he could have jumped to the moon at that moment. Kenma was known for never sugarcoating things for his “clients” (if you could call lovesick high schoolers that), and it made sense that Lev would be so happy to hear a single word. 

“So, how should I do it?” Lev asked, excitedly rolling back and forth on his heels. Just looking at him made Kenma feel tired. 

The question was a standard one, but for some reason he couldn’t explain, a wave of irritation shot through Kenma. Based on how much he’d picked up about Shouyou in the past few weeks, the other boy might be the type to appreciate grand gestures of affection, but Kenma didn’t really feel like saying all that to Lev right about then. “Just a normal confession should do.” 

Lev wavered, just for a second, before breaking into a grin. The sight of it just served to make Kenma feel even more irritated—seriously, what was going  _ on _ ? 

“Thanks, Kenma!” was all he yelled before running back to his own class, without a second look back at them. He was still left feeling annoyed by the whole interaction, and when he turned around to finally sit down at his table and eat his lunch, he was greeted with Kuro’s disappointed face. 

“What?” he grumbled, pushing aside his chair and not making any eye contact with his best friend. 

“What do you mean,  _ what?  _ What the fuck did you do that for?” 

The surprise in Kuro’s voice was genuine, and that confused Kenma enough for him to look up from his lunch and fix his eyes on Kuro. He seemed pissed off about something, although Kenma wasn’t quite sure  _ what. _ “I genuinely do not know what you’re talking about right now.” 

Kuro gaped at him, as if trying to gauge the level of his stupidity. Kenma frowned at the notion. He wasn’t stupid.

“You really don’t know, huh,” he finally said, laughing dryly. The response only made Kenma’s frown deepen, but before he could question Kuro about it any further, his thoughts were interrupted by Yaku’s loud arrival at their table. 

Distracted by tales of incidents from chemistry, and mentally recording the way that Kuro seemed to look at Yaku with hearts in his eyes for future blackmail material, Kenma soon forgot about whatever it was Kuro had seemed mad about. 

The uneasiness in his chest remained, though, and would remain there until he finally got out of school that day and stepped into his house. His parents hadn’t said anything to him that afternoon, but Kenma wasn’t about to take any chances and stay around the living room any longer, so he quickly made his way up to his room. 

That was when he finally took out his notebook from his bag, flipping through the pages until he found the one he was looking for. Reaching over for his pen, he quickly made the edit that he’d been meaning to. 

**NAME:** Lev Haiba   
**BIRTHDAY:** 30 October (Scorpio)   
**PERSONALITY TRAITS:** childish and playful, blunt, easily riled up    
**INTERESTS:** those weird slinky things   
**TYPE:** as competitive as him, usually someone he looks up to in terms of skill   
**IDEAL DATE:** pretty flexible, probably depends on the person   
**CRUSHES:** Yaku (grade 9), Shouyou (grade 10)    
**RELATIONSHIPS:** none so far   
**ADDITIONAL NOTES:**

Kenma found himself staring at the “Shouyou” written on the page, in hastily scribbled penmanship. He pictured Lev and Shouyou together in his head, laughing with each other and daring each other to do one scary thing after another. It was a cute image, one of many kinds of pairings that Kenma had made before, and he was satisfied enough with that justification to ignore the ache in his chest. 

He didn’t get much time alone with his thoughts, though, because there was a knock on the door of his room soon after. His mom gently cracked open the door without waiting for a reply, and stepped inside so that she could properly see Kenma. 

Not that there was much to see. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, staring up at his mother, notebook laid wide open in front of him. He shut it hastily, hoping that he wouldn’t be questioned about its contents. 

“Yes?” Kenma asked, voice carefully empty of any emotion. He was probably being a little too blunt, but his head wasn’t really in the right place at the moment. He’d had a long day, and he didn’t want to deal with his mom’s bullshit right about then.

“How are you?” she asked in response, and Kenma just barely managed to conceal a snort. Yeah, she definitely wanted something from him.

“I’m fine.”

There were a few tense moments of silence that followed, as if both of them were waiting for the other to fill it up, but Kenma was adamant on not being the one to say something first. He’d done enough of that in his childhood to last him a lifetime.

“Look, I’m… sorry,” his mom suddenly blurted out, and Kenma wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not. An apology from his mother was as rare as they came, and he sat up a little straighter to fully hear her out. “I was harsh on you yesterday, but your grades still need some picking up. I really am worried for you.” 

She looked uncomfortable, and unsure of what she was saying, but Kenma understood what she was trying to do. Neither of them were ones to mince their words, even if their ideals didn’t exactly  _ match,  _ sometimes. 

“Okay,” was all Kenma gave as a response, and his mother seemed to accept it as one. After a few brief moments of hesitation, as to whether she should stay or go, she eventually turned around and headed back out of the room. 

Kenma shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. What a weird fucking day.

* * *

The next few days passed as if they were a chore, with an almost gloomy cloud over each one. It didn’t help that Kenma barely saw any sight of Shouyou—somewhere along the line, the other boy had wormed his way into his life enough that a day without seeing him affected him to an extent.

Shouyou’s absence didn’t go by unexplained, though: he had his qualifiers match for nationals coming up, and he’d been busy practicing with his team during most of his free time, as he’d excitedly told Kenma one evening over a phone call. 

“It’s going to be so cool, Kenma!” he’d said, and Kenma could almost see him jumping up and about in his head. “You have to come see!”

Which was exactly how he found himself in the stands of a volleyball stadium at 10:00 am on a Saturday, a time during which he’d normally be sleeping. 

He’d brought Kuro along with him, a decision that he was regretting right about now: all he’d done so far was loudly criticise the opposing team as they were warming up and tease Kenma about the fact that he was at a  _ volleyball _ match for  _ Shouyou.  _

Kenma ignored him, as he usually did, and reached into his pocket for his phone to kill time until the match started. The first thing he saw when he unlocked it made him wish he’d never touched his phone in the first place. 

**l*v (09:46)**   
Im going to confess to him today   
After the match

He read the texts with a frown on his face. (He’d been doing a lot of that lately.) He looked up from his phone, scanning the bleachers for any sight of a certain tall, white-haired Russian boy—and soon enough, found Lev sitting near the front row.

Kuro noticed what he was looking at almost immediately, because of course he did. “Scouting the competition, huh,” he said, with an amused smile on his face. Kenma wanted to smack it off. 

“You’re extremely annoying,” he informed Kuro, and went back to staring at his phone. 

It had only been four days since Lev had come to him asking for help about his crush, and he honestly hadn’t expected him to react so fast. Then again, it wasn’t exactly his place to comment. The weird ache-y feeling in his chest was back, replacing the bubbliness he’d been feeling at the opportunity to see Shouyou again, but he ignored it in favour of shooting off a quick  _ good luck  _ text before switching his phone off again. 

Out loud, Kenma said, “I’m  _ bored. _ When does the match start?” 

Kuro snorted. “How should I know? You’re the one who got us here.” 

Groaning, Kenma slumped further into his seat—just as the whistle signaling the beginning of the match gave sound. That got him to perk up a little, and he found himself smiling when he saw Shouyou take his position on the court. He could see Kuro smirking at him from the corner of his eye, but Kenma kept his eyes trained on the match unfolding in front of him. 

He didn’t know the team they were playing against, but he was fairly sure it was a well-respected team among their district. That much was evident with the way they landed clean serve after clean serve, each member powerful enough to be aces of their own. Their school’s side relied less on power and more on tactics, working together as a team to return their serves and rally until the ball touched the ground. 

Kenma said all of this out loud to Kuro, analysing the player’s moves before they knew what they were doing themselves. Based on how the match was going right now, he’d say that their team had a fair chance of winning the game. 

Kuro shook his head, half in amazement and half in disbelief. “You quitting volleyball was the biggest tragedy of the decade.” 

Kenma only made a face in response. Too sweaty. 

He turned his attention back onto the game—or more specifically, back onto Shouyou. His playing style was a lot different than what he’d expected it to be, and he was one of the very few players on court whose moves he found difficult to predict. It felt like he was there on one side of the court and magically on the other in a matter of seconds; his speed and agility were nothing to be taken lightly. 

“I think,” started Kuro, and Kenma resisted the urge to respond with  _ You do? _ He waited for him to continue his sentence, instead, a feat which he thought was worthy of some form of accolade. “I think that if you’d met chibi earlier, you’d never have stopped playing volleyball.” 

Kenma didn’t say anything, looking straight at the match instead. His eyes followed the small, redhead spitfire around the court, marking his position and posture at every step he took. He was  _ interested.  _

The rest of the game continued in a similar fashion, with Kenma spouting his predictions for the players and Kuro adding his own two cents every once in a while. So, when their home team ended up winning the final set and taking the game along with it—well, it didn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

A smile made its way onto Kenma’s face, and he clapped as loudly as he could without breaking his hands. Everyone around them was doing the same, cheering for their team and making as much noise as they could—some of them were even crying. Maybe Kuro was right, he thought, because Kenma felt close to tears himself. He couldn't remember a time when he'd ever felt so proud of anyone before.

After both the teams had lined up and paid their respects to each other, and all the clapping and crying had reached its end, the two of them made their way down to the court to congratulate the winning team. They were finishing up their post-match stretches, and Kenma was hesitant to interrupt—but his worries were soon erased when Shouyou came bounding up to him with the brightest smile he'd ever seen.

"Kenma, Kenma! Did you see that? Did you see what we did in the end?"

He was jumping up and about as he said it, and Kenma found himself wondering where on earth he got all that stamina from. (Shouyou's teammates seemed to be thinking the same thing, if the way that they were lying half-dead on the floor was anything to go by.) He stopped himself from asking that out loud, though, and instead smiled as wide as his mouth would allow him to. "Yeah. I'm really proud of you."

Shouyou's grin only got wider, and with the sun in front of him, it was easy for Kenma to forget that Kuro was carefully watching him from where he was standing. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet throughout the whole exchange, though, allowing Kenma to pay full attention to whatever Shouyou was telling him.

“—and then it was like! Bwahhh!! And I thought that it was going to hit me on the face, but then I remembered the trick that Daichi-san had taught me for getting receives that looked like they were going to slam you in the face so I went back like whooshh, and then I managed to get the ball into the air and it was so cool, Kenma!”

Kenma giggled, and he had just opened his mouth to reply when they were cut off by the team's captain calling Shouyou back to the locker rooms to get changed. Shouyou gave him an apologetic smile, but Kenma waved him off and told him he smelled.

There were still no teasing quips or comments to be heard from Kuro's side, and Kenma turned to make sure that he was alright—only to find his best friend staring back at him with a wicked grin on his face. He sighed, not sure what else he was expecting.

He didn't have much time to dwell on that, though, because he spotted Lev making his way to the team from the corner of his eye. Quickly excusing himself from Kuro with some dumb reason that he knew the other wouldn't fall for, Kenma waited for Lev to disappear around the corner before following him to wherever he was going.

"Hey, Hinata!" Lev called out, and Kenma winced at how loud his voice was. He was walking through the corridor that led to the locker rooms, while Kenma had positioned himself behind a wall that allowed him to see everything and not get caught (hopefully).

Shouyou turned at the sound of his name, and Kenma ducked his head back behind the wall. He could hear what sounded like Shouyou telling his team to go on ahead, and peeked out again to see what was going on.

Lev was fiddling with the hem of his shirt as he stood in front of Shouyou, but he made eye contact and his words were clear as he spoke. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Lev! Next time, I'll beat you too!"

Lev blinked, looking confused at what exactly Shouyou was trying to tell him, and Kenma stifled the desire to laugh. He didn't look deterred, though, and continued talking. From the way he looked so focused on what he was saying, Kenma thought that he might have memorised a whole speech to say to the other boy.

"I know I've only known you for two months, but I like you a lot," Lev announced, and Kenma was left feeling a little bit impressed with how bold he was.

_ I've known him for three months, _ his monkey brain helpfully supplied. Kenma ignored it and instead focused on what Lev was saying next.

"...do you want to be my boyfriend?"

For once in his life, Shouyou looked like he didn't know what to say. If they were in an anime, this would be the moment in which his eyes started popping out of his head, paired with an equally embarrassing sound effect.

After a few more moments of what looked like internal stuttering and spluttering, Shouyou finally opened his mouth and said, "Um, thank you!!"

Kenma was just about to turn around and leave, figuring that he knew how this was going to go, when Shouyou continued, "I don't... um. I don't feel the same, though..."

Wait,  _ what? _

He froze in his tracks, unsure whether he'd misheard or whether Shouyou had misunderstood what Lev was asking him. This had never happened, not in his five years of matchmaking experience, so what exactly went wrong here?

Shouyou was still talking, and Lev was probably heartbroken, too—but Kenma didn't know if he could stick around to see what else the two of them said. For some reason he couldn’t quite place, he felt like he was about to throw up any second. Emotions a tangled mess inside his stomach, he exited the corridor and headed straight back to the court to Kuro.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally, the 'angst' bit of the fluff and angst. and no, i don't hate lev! he gets his redemption :^)


	4. scandinavian crush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [chapter song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aUgPuIhfVY)

“How long have you known this boy, again?” 

“Three months.” 

“And you’re already this whipped for him?”

Kenma groaned, burrowing his face into his pillow and trying to cancel out the sound of his friends psychoanalysing him. It wasn’t bad enough that Kuro was on his case virtually every day—this time, Akaashi had come over to Kuro’s house help. They were all old friends, and a visit from Akaashi had been long overdue; of course, the minute they stepped in, Kuro began telling them all about what had happened the previous day with Kenma and Lev. Now, the two of them watched Kenma from where they were respectively sitting on the floor and by the desk, and he was 93% sure that Kuro was laughing at him again. 

Akaashi cleared their throat, continuing their questioning from earlier. “So, you have _no_ idea why your Shouyou said no to Lev?” 

Kenma rolled over so that he could see Akaashi’s face clearly, still clutching his pillow tightly. “First of all, not my Shouyou,” he said, and Kuro rolled his eyes. Akaashi’s face remained impassive. Kenma loved Akaashi. 

“Second,” he continued, and this time, he sat up straight on the bed instead of lying all over it like a starfish. “I’m not stupid. I _know_ Shouyou likes someone else. We just need to figure out who,” 

That incited a loud groan from Kuro, and even Akaashi looked a little frustrated. Kenma frowned. What the hell did he say wrong? 

He asked exactly that out loud, and Kuro desperately looked like he wanted to say something. One look from Akaashi had him quiet immediately, though. (Kenma _really_ loved Akaashi.) 

“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe the one that Shouyou likes,” Akaashi started, speaking slowly and carefully. It didn’t come off as patronising, though—more like they were taking care to ensure that nothing they said overstepped any boundaries. Kenma liked that. “...is _you_?” 

His frown deepened, and he didn’t say anything for a moment. On a surface level, the idea that Shouyou might like him seemed implausible; but Kenma was self-aware enough to know that he only thought that because _he_ was the one involved. If he removed himself from the situation, and looked at the scenario objectively, however… that was a whole other story. 

Huh. 

Suddenly, all the late night texts, the excuses to meet up outside of tutoring, the constant visits during school and lunch—suddenly, all of it made a lot more sense. 

“Okay,” said Kenma, looking up from his pillow. Kuro and Akaashi looked right back at him with bated breath, as if they were waiting on him to say something groundbreaking. “You’re right. What do I do now?” 

Kuro let out a sound that felt similar to a dinosaur’s mating call, and Akaashi looked one second away from throwing something at Kenma. 

“I think you should be asking yourself that,” said Akaashi, and Kenma could tell it was taking all of their willpower to remain as patient as they could. 

“If it helps,” added Kuro, smirking. “Whenever you’re talking to chibi, your face looks the same way it does when you’re starting a freshly bought game.” 

Akaashi glared at Kuro, but Kenma was too busy frowning himself to take note of that. “Does not.” 

“Does too.”

“Does not.”

“Does too!”

“Does no—” 

“ _Kenma_ ,” interrupted Akaashi, some of their exasperation finally leaking into their voice. “What are your thoughts on Shouyou, exactly?” 

Kenma paused, considering. He thought about what Kuro had just said, too—it was true that he liked talking to Shouyou, but no way he looked that embarrassing when doing it. “He’s somehow become a close friend, and he’s fun to spend time with. I like teaching him math. I like his voice. He’s interesting.” 

His friends looked at him, expectant, and Kenma finally _realised._

“Oh,” he said, softly. 

* * *

To say that Kenma had a “plan” would be using the term very, _very_ loosely. 

His course of action was probably better described as a vague amalgamation of ideas, in no particular order or importance. Extremely out of character for someone like Kenma, who thrived off of making tactical approaches and setting out strategies, but the past week’s revelations had frazzled him to an extent that planning was out of the question. 

After he’d left Kuro’s house that day, Kenma had found himself thinking about what exactly he was going to do with his newfound _feelings,_ now that he was self-aware enough to know that he wanted to do something with them. For someone who’d spent the better part of the last few years setting people up, he had extremely limited personal experience in the area—mainly because no one had interested him long enough for him to actively spend time with them and get to know them. 

Until Shouyou, that is. Which was how Kenma found himself waiting for the other boy by the bus stand, furiously rehearsing the list of pick-up lines he’d found off the internet in his head. 

Kenma’s reasoning behind the pick-up lines went like this: Shouyou was a lively person who liked other lively people. It made sense to assume that he would want to be asked out in a lively manner, but Kenma unfortunately did not possess the theatrical or musical qualities required for a Hollywood-like confession. He did, however, have access to the internet, and he found a WikiHow article that stated “flirting using pick-up lines” as a good way to get someone to laugh and possibly like you better. 

It didn’t take long for Shouyou to arrive, and Kenma greeted him with a smile as the other immediately started chattering on about his day. (He didn’t trust himself to say anything, yet, in fear that his first words would be, _“If you were a chicken, you’d be impeck-able_.”) 

The two of them were headed to the same sushi restaurant that they’d been meeting up at regularly for their tutoring sessions, and when they’d finally seated themselves, Shouyou clapped his hands and made an _oh!_ sound. 

“Hey, I almost forgot to tell you!” 

Kenma hummed, gesturing for him to go on. 

“My math teacher’s been really pleased with my progress so far, and she says that we can stop doing our tutoring sessions!” 

Shouyou was beaming as he said it, and it took all of Kenma’s willpower to muster out a, “Oh, nice.” 

He meant it, of course. He was happy for Shouyou and even happier that he’d managed to help the other in math to this degree. In fact, if he’d been told this news a few weeks earlier, he’d have been over the moon at having to spend less time tutoring someone. 

But somewhere along the line, these sessions had turned into something he looked forward to. There was something about explaining concepts to Shouyou and watching the light in his eyes grow brighter when he finally understood the topics that made him want to do it forever—he hadn’t been able to place the emotion before, but now that he knew what it was, it made him even more upset thinking that they might not be able to spend as much time with each other. 

Shouyou must have picked up on the fact that something was wrong, though, because he was quick to shoot down Kenma’s worries. “We’re still going to be friends though, okay? You can’t get rid of me that easily!” 

This time, when Kenma smiled, it was a lot more genuine. He opened his mouth to say something like _Of course_ , but what came out instead was a hastily mumbled, “If I were a cat, I’d spend all nine of my lives with you.” 

In hindsight, Kenma probably should have known that this plan was going to be extremely embarrassing. 

For a brief moment, he considered making a run for it and never showing his face to Shouyou ever again. Luckily for him, he’d been speaking too quickly and softly for the other boy to properly hear him, because he immediately asked, “Huh? What’d you say?”

Kenma willed himself not to turn red as he replied, “Um, nothing. Just. Yes, of course.” 

If Shouyou could tell that he was being awkward, he didn’t comment on it—just smiled and continued talking about something else like nothing had happened. They turned back to math soon after their sushi arrived, and Kenma found himself relaxing back into the regular routine of things. 

Until Shouyou pointed towards a geometry question and all of Kenma’s common sense went flying out the window. 

“You need to use pi,” he explained, voice softer than usual. He hesitated for a second, another pick-up line on the tip of his tongue, but unsure whether he should be using it or not. But then again, what did he have to lose? 

( _Many things, like dignity and pride and Shouyou’s friendship_ , the rational side of him thought. _Shut up,_ his monkey brain suggested.) 

“...because it’s sweet, like you.”

Apparently, Kenma really needed to work on his delivery of speech, because his words came out all hurried and mangled up in the rush. He could barely understand his own mumbling himself, and Shouyou sent him a questioning glance. Kenma smiled weakly in an attempt to assure him that everything was okay, and tried extremely hard to pretend like he hadn’t turned red enough to outshine a tomato.

Needless to say, that was the end of the pick-up lines for the day. 

The rest of the session— _their last tutoring session together,_ his brain supplied—passed without any further embarrassments, and as soon as he’d said goodbye to Shouyou, Kenma headed straight to Kuro’s house. 

“I need your help,” he announced, stepping into his room without knocking. 

Kuro swiveled around on his spinny chair to grin at him, and Kenma _really_ didn’t like the look on his face. “Ask away, grasshopper.” 

“You’re the grasshopper,” Kenma retorted, kicking off his house slippers and getting comfortable on the bed. “Shouyou. Help.” 

Kuro’s grin only widened, and Kenma was tempted to smack it off. “I’m going to need a little bit more than that to go off of.” 

Kenma sighed, already resigning himself to his fate of getting laughed at by Kuro. “I tried using pick-up lines on him but it didn’t work because I mumbled too much and he couldn’t hear me properly. What do I—”

True to his word, he was cut off by Kuro’s hyena laugh. Kenma rolled his eyes, but he knew he deserved that; he hadn’t been himself when he’d plotted out his plan to gain Shouyou’s affection. 

Kuro was still wheezing, and Kenma was starting to get a little annoyed. “Are you done?” he grumbled, resisting the urge to pout. (It’d only make Kuro laugh harder.)

“Yeah— I— hang on,” Kuro said, between breaths. Seriously, it wasn’t that funny. “Why the fuck did you think it would be a good idea to use _pick-up lines_ , of all things?”

Kenma could only sigh again. “I don’t know. WikiHow said it was a good way to make someone laugh and get their attention.” 

“You went to _WikiHow_?” 

“Yes, and now I’m coming to you,” Kenma replied, impatiently, digging his fingers into the pillow in his hands. “As annoying as you are, you’ve been in relationships before, so you must be doing something right.”

Kuro raised an eyebrow. “You’re the one who gave me the advice that helped me get into all of those relationships.” 

“Yeah, but,” Kenma huffed. “I can’t apply that stuff to myself. It’s weird.” 

All of a sudden, Kuro fixed him with a serious look. “Why not?” 

“It’s hard to view a relationship objectively when you’re the one _in_ the relationship, you know.” 

“Then don’t view it objectively.” Kuro’s words were blunt, and Kenma felt like he’d just been handed an apple and told to peel it with just his fingers.

Kuro continued talking before Kenma could say anything. “Relationships aren’t objective, Kenma. I know you’re used to seeing them as such, but emotions aren’t as simple as that. I don’t think planning everything down to a T is going to help you in this situation.” 

Kenma bit his lip, an old habit that he hadn't indulged in for years—he knew Kuro was right, for once, but how was he supposed to...?

The other must have noticed his internal conflict, because he kept talking, unprompted. "You want to be in a relationship with Shouyou, right?"

Kenma hesitated, just for a second, before nodding. He still wasn't sure what exactly a "relationship" meant to him, personally, but he liked the idea of doing something more than just pining after Shouyou through texts.

"Do you remember what you told me when I was about to ask out Akemi?"

Of course. He never forgot any of the advice he gave his clients (he really needed to come up with something else to call them). "Don't waste your time coming up with an elaborate plan and just ask whenever the moment feels right."

Kuro looked at Kenma, expectant, and he realised what the other was trying to tell him. "That advice was specific to you, though," he said, frowning. "You're all—suave and flexible and in the moment. People like you for you, unfortunately."

"But this isn't about _people_ , is it? It's about Shouyou. And Shouyou likes you for you, too."

Kenma stared fixedly at a point on the wall opposite him.

"Using pick-up lines on him isn't going to get his attention, Kenma, because you already _have_ it. He cares about Kenma, not about some himbo who uses WikiHow to try and flirt with his crush."

Goddamn it, he really hated when Kuro was right.

He didn't say anything, but it felt like Kuro had read his mind, because the other's face immediately broke into a huge grin. (Not the nice kind, either. The big, evil, scheming kind.)

"Yeah, yeah," Kenma grumbled, before Kuro could say anything else. There wasn't any heat in his tone, though. "Thanks."

"What else are friends for, bud?"

"If you call me that again, I will rip off your arms and feed them to you."

The rest of their conversation devolved into meaningless bickering, but Kenma felt a lot lighter than he had when he'd first entered Kuro's room. As much as he bullied the other boy, or pretended like he disliked him—in the end, Kuro was the only one he trusted enough to go to for advice about things like this. People always regarded Kenma as the smarter of the two, but sometimes geniuses needed to be kept in check, too.

After a few hours of laying around doing nothing, Kenma left to go back to his own house for the night—a new development, seeing as his parents had strangely started to leave him alone, enough for him to return home without feeling suffocated by the environment. As he walked through the short stretch of road that led back to his house, he found himself with a lot less to think about than he had when he'd first headed to Kuro's house.

For once, he didn't feel like he had to _know_ what he was doing to do it.

* * *

He didn't give the whole 'relationship' thing any more thought for the next few days, which was surprisingly easy to do considering the fact that Shouyou was everywhere. It felt like he was around a lot more than he had been earlier, as if he was trying to compensate for the fact that the two of them didn't have shared tutoring anymore. Kenma liked it. He angled his body towards Shouyou, listened to him, and allowed his stories to distract him from the avalanche of feelings that threatened to pour out every time the other boy so much as glanced in his direction.

They’d been spending so much time together that Kenma barely batted an eye when Shouyou asked him if they could meet up by the library after school the next day. He’d been a bit confused by the request, seeing as their lack of tutoring sessions severely limited the number of possible activities they could pursue together at a library, but chalked it off as general Shouyou behaviour. 

He mentioned as much to Kuro when they were walking back from school, heading straight for Kuro’s house. Kuro turned to him with an incredulous look on his face, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and asked, “He asked you to meet up at the library? Without giving a proper reason why?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

“And you have no idea what the reason could be? The _library_?” 

“No…?” Kenma frowned. “Whatever, can we just get to your house? There’s a new DLC I need to download.”

Kuro sighed, but dropped the topic. Kenma was relieved—he didn’t want to overthink anything about Shouyou any more than he already had. He was trying to take Kuro’s original advice; just letting things happen without dissecting them and trying to make them go his way. 

True to his word, he didn’t think much about the whole situation until the next day, when he was stepping into the library and cautiously looking around for Shouyou. There were barely any students inside, most of them having already gone home—the ones who remained were deeply engrossed in whatever books they were reading, not paying any attention to Kenma as he walked through the tables lining the front half of the library. 

Shouyou was nowhere to be seen, which was strange, seeing as the two of them usually sat at one of the tables up front. Disgruntled, Kenma headed towards the back, where all the bookshelves were arranged in neat rows. 

He found Shouyou pacing back and forth behind the last row of books, looking like he was ten seconds away from exploding straight out of the roof. He didn’t look like he’d noticed Kenma, so he cleared his throat to make his presence known—only for Shouyou to jump what felt like six feet into the air. 

“K-Kenma!” Shouyou exclaimed, attempting nonchalance. Kenma tried not to giggle. 

“Shouyou,” he greeted, a small smile slipping through on his face. It seemed to make Shouyou even more nervous, if the way his cheeks turned a light pink was anything to go by. 

“Hi! How are you, how was your day, I came here so I could do some…” Shouyou trailed off, dragging a hand across the books that lined the shelf right next to him. “Light reading. Haha.” 

Kenma raised an eyebrow, not buying his excuse for a second. “I’m doing okay, but you look like you’re about to have a seizure any minute.” 

Of course, that comment only served to make Shouyou more flustered than he already was. He looked a lot more fidgety than he usually was, constantly playing with the hem of his shirt and shifting around from one foot to the other. All of that, paired with the blush that was threatening to take over his entire face, pointed Kenma to only one conclusion—one that he feared might be too presumptuous of him.

Still, with this bright red version of Shouyou in front of him, it was easy for him to buy into his daydreams. The other boy was muttering something that Kenma couldn’t pick up with his ears, and he had a sudden stroke of deja vu reminiscent of a few nights before, at the sushi restaurant. 

“Just spit it out, Shouyou.” He winced as the words left his mouth, afraid that they’d be seen as too curt or too rude, but Shouyou didn’t look like he held any such misconceptions. He’d grown used to how he spoke, Kenma supposed. The thought both scared and thrilled him. 

“Ugh, okay, okay!” Shouyou groaned, and Kenma did nothing except continue looking at him. His own heart rate was increasing by the minute, because everything Shouyou did was pointing towards his own suspicions being true. He willed his hands to still, from where they were nervously tapping out a rhythm against his legs. 

No amount of prediction could have prepared him for what happened next, though. 

“I like you! A lot!” Shouyou blurted out, and Kenma momentarily forgot how to breathe. He didn’t get a moment of rest to learn how to use his lungs again, however, because Shouyou wasn’t done. “I like your voice! I like how you eat spicy food all the time even though you can’t tolerate it at all! I like that you listen to me and it _feels_ like you’re listening, I like you so much and I,” he stopped, catching his breath for a second. Kenma wished he could catch his, too. 

He looked at Kenma, then, wide-eyed and nervous and far too trusting. It felt like all the words that Kenma had so carefully prepared from earlier had vanished into thin air, stealing his voice away just as Shouyou had stolen his heart. 

_Wherever it takes you, Kenma._ “I like you. Too,” 

The words felt pale in comparison to Shouyou’s spiel, but the other boy’s eyes widened with realisation. Kenma watched as his mouth stretched slowly into a smile that could have conquered the sun, happiness evident on every inch of his face, and he couldn’t quite believe that was happening was _real._

“Um,” Kenma started, throat feeling drier than it had ever been. “Be my boyfr—?” 

But he never got to finish the question, because Shouyou’s lips were on his in an instant. 

Kenma melted under the kiss almost immediately. It wasn’t his first, not by a long shot, but the way that Shouyou’s mouth moved against his made him feel like he’d only just discovered what it was supposed to feel like. Shouyou’s hands were cupping his cheeks, nothing but warmth leaking through them, and Kenma felt his heart swoop in his chest.

It wasn’t romantic. They were both too awkward for that. But it was a lot of other things, all at once, and Kenma couldn’t figure out whether he should close his eyes or do something with his eyes or— 

Shouyou broke away, resting his hands on Kenma’s shoulders, looking as flustered as he does happy. His cheeks were tinted a bright red, his hair was sticking out from everywhere even more so than usual, and his lips were definitely more swollen than they were before. 

_I did this_ , Kenma realised. _I was the one who turned him all pink and blushing and excited._

And, really, that was all the thought he needed before leaning in again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing this chapter gave me brain damage i was blushing like a Fool by the end of it.. i am so sorry if anyone is out of character


	5. better together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [chapter song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seZMOTGCDag)
> 
> final chapter!! think of this as an epilogue more than anything :)

Dating Hinata Shouyou wasn’t so different from _not_ dating Hinata Shouyou. 

He still managed to find Kenma during every free moment of his day, still texted him random pictures of cats, still found out which restaurants were doing well lately and dragged Kenma to wherever they were. He still talked about whatever was on his mind whenever it was on his mind and he still laughed with his entire body. He was still… Shouyou. 

Kenma didn’t know why he was so surprised. After all, it wasn’t like pre-relationship Shouyou and post-relationship Shouyou were two different people—the only thing that had really changed was that post-relationship Shouyou was a lot more tactile and affectionate than he’d ever been. (Not that Kenma was complaining. For some reason, he didn’t seem to mind people touching him if that ‘people’ was Shouyou.)

Exhibit A: Shouyou currently laying his head in Kenma’s lap, fiddling with a piece of paper that he’d somehow gotten ahold of. The two of them were in Kenma’s room—another thing that had changed. Over the past few weeks, he’d found himself slowly warming up to his house’s atmosphere, and having Shouyou in his room almost made it feel like _home._

A hand reached up to pull on Kenma’s hair, effectively dragging him out of his reverie. He made a humming noise at the back of his throat, pausing the game he was playing and focusing his attention on his boyfriend instead. 

_Boyfriend._ God. 

Shouyou was smiling up at him, and the sight made Kenma’s throat restrict. In a brief moment of weakness and a bubble of something else that he couldn’t quite name, Kenma unpaused his game and held it out for Shouyou to see. 

The other boy was completely silent for a moment—enough time for Kenma to rethink all of the life choices that had led him to that point in life—before tearing his gaze away from the game and peeking up at Kenma through his lashes, mouth wide open in surprise. “You named your Pokemon after me?” 

Kenma flushed, a bit taken aback by Shouyou’s genuinely touched expression, and nodded quickly. He had his head bowed over deep enough that his face was only a few inches away from Shouyou; his hair formed a curtain around the two of them, as if shielding them from the rest of the world. Kenma liked it. 

“Why the grass type?” Shouyou asked, at last. He was still fiddling with the paper in his hand, but his eyes were trained firmly on Kenma. 

He swallowed, unsure how to respond, exactly. He had the words in his head, but he’d always had a bad history with translating his thoughts into speech. Still, he replied, “Because you’re… comforting. You remind me of—gah—”

Shouyou leaned up to press their lips together before Kenma got the chance to release the frustrated sigh building up inside him. He melted against the kiss, as he’d been doing every other time they’d kissed over the past week, and Shouyou shifted from where he’d been lying down in Kenma’s lap to a more comfortable position in front of him. 

It would have been easy to name Shouyou after a fire type, with how brightly and energetically he talked and moved and even  _ kissed. _ But even though Kenma associated him with the sun, his warmth didn’t scald or burn—it was a caring sort of warmth, one that came from within and wrapped itself around Kenma like a particularly nice hug. He nurtured growth, sprouting like a bud through cracks and crevices against all odds, intertwining himself with Kenma’s life like he was always there. He was persistent and determined, but willing to take a step back and mold himself for change: he was the earth in its truest, purest form. 

A hand dragging itself through his hair shifted Kenma’s attention back to his boyfriend, and all thoughts of the earth and the sun promptly left his mind. Who cared for metaphors when reality was worth so much more? 

The forthcoming days all passed like this: little moments shared in togetherness, bubbles of contentment that Kenma stored in his brain’s pocket and called upon whenever he needed a smile. Their relationship didn’t feel like a big, scary change to him in any way: in fact, it was more the opposite. After all the time the two of them had spent together, it felt like the only _logical_ next step. The physical affection, sure, but also the relief that came with emotional closeness. Kenma didn’t feel like he had to consider his words carefully before saying them anymore, because somehow, Shouyou always understood. 

Neither of them were particularly hesitant about their relationship—Kenma didn’t care if other people knew, and Shouyou was excited that they did. Naturally, they didn’t shy away from sticking close together in school, too. A hand held in the hallways, maybe, or a kiss exchanged before running to their respective next class. 

So really, it didn’t come as a surprise when most of the school figured out they were dating almost immediately. The two of them hadn’t really _told_ anyone (except their respective best friends, of course—Kuro had wrapped Kenma in a bear hug before proceeding to cackle maniacally and yell, _“I told you so!_ ” at the top of his lungs), but high schoolers notorious for finding out things without being told what they were: Kenma himself being a prime example. 

The news was also surprisingly helpful for his matchmaking business (if one could even call it that, since he did it all for free). Kenma had more people come up to him asking for help in the following week than he’d received in a month, but he wasn’t complaining. Shouyou seemed intrigued by the whole thing too, and readily agreed to help in every way possible—Kenma had lost his mind for a little bit at that, because pairing his own observation skills with Shouyou’s communication skills was the surefire way to boost their operation. (Alright, so maybe Kenma _liked_ treating it like a business.)

In fact, he knew his matchmaking game was at its peak when Kuro asked him, “Think I should try asking Yaku out?” 

They were in Kuro’s room, as was custom, and he’d tried to make his tone as nonchalant as possible—not that it was going to fool Kenma, who was currently staring at his best friend as if he’d grown a third head. 

“Tetsurou,” he started, and suddenly, he thought he might understand what his friends had gone through when he’d still been oblivious to his own feelings for Shouyou. It was not fun. “I’ve been fucking _saying_.” 

Kuro groaned. “Yeah, you have.” 

That wasn’t the end of surprises for Kenma, though. Not by a long shot. 

Kenma’s first thought upon seeing Lev waiting by his classroom was to run away, but he somehow managed to steel himself enough to go talk to the other boy face-to-face. He figured he owed him that much. (What did he owe him for? He wasn’t quite sure, but guilt was an ugly emotion, even when it didn’t quite make sense. _Especially_ then.) 

“Congratulations,” was the first thing that Lev said to him when he was within earshot, and Kenma could tell that he was being fully earnest. There wasn’t any trace of bitterness in his tone, which made Kenma wonder why he was there in the first place. 

“Thank you,” replied Kenma, softly. There was no need to ask what he was being congratulated for; after all, what other business did Lev have with him? He didn’t really know what else to say after that, though, but the other boy wasn’t done talking.

“I, um,” Lev started, reaching up to rub his neck awkwardly. “I just wanted to make sure that we’re still friends, you know! No weird stuff!” 

Huh. _What?_

Lev must have noticed the incredulity on Kenma’s face, because he hastily followed it up with, “Like, because of the whole Hinata thing! I don’t want it to get between us!” 

“Uh,” Kenma said, intelligently. He really wasn’t stocked up on enough caffeine for this conversation. 

He wasn’t so much surprised by the fact that Lev was trying to make amends than the fact that he thought he _had_ to make amends—even more so that he considered the two of them ‘friends’. Lev had always been a sort of background presence in Kenma’s life, like the chatter of a television left on low volume. He’d always exhausted him to the extent that he found it hard to care about anything he did. But now, with the other boy standing in front of him in all his sincerity, Kenma thought that he might have genuine respect for Lev Haiba.

“It’s okay,” he said, at last. “You don’t have anything to worry about.” 

Lev breathed out what looked like a sigh of relief, and Kenma felt strangely relieved himself. “You’re the best, Kenma-san!” 

Kenma only nodded in response, and after a moment’s hesitation, asked, “You’re okay?” 

“Huh?” Lev furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at first, but seemed to understand what he meant by the question. “Oh, yeah! It was just a little crush, it’s fine! You both seem a lot happier than you were before, anyway.” 

Kenma blinked, a little startled by the last sentence, but Lev was already moving away, cheerfully yelling something about “getting to lunch on time”. That got a small smile out of Kenma, who shook his head in amusement.

People really weren’t as predictable as he thought they were. 

Taking a few more moments to clear his thoughts, Kenma hoisted his backpack higher up on his shoulder and headed to his own lunch: another Shouyou-powered change in his routine. He no longer sat with just Kuro and Yaku in their classroom during their breaks, instead opting to sneak up to the rooftop with Shouyou whenever they could. It was fun to stare down at the seemingly endless drop below them, cold wind hitting their faces and laughs carrying across the breeze. 

Of course, it hadn’t been long before their respective friends found out about their hiding place and promptly gatecrashed all their dates, but Kenma had found that he didn’t really mind. 

He’d ended up meeting Shouyou’s friends, too; the blonde and the gremlin. Yachi had been a bit awkward at first, and Kenma had known from Shouyou’s previous descriptions of her that she took time to warm up to people. It had only taken a few more lunches for the two of them to start talking to each other like friends, though, and Kenma liked her company. She reminded him of Shouyou, minus the characteristic energy that he’d come to associate with the other boy. He could see why the two of them were good friends. 

Whatever she lacked in intensity, however, the gremlin made up for readily. Kenma had learnt his name upon their first meeting, when Shouyou had excitedly introduced the two of them. “You both play setter! You should get along great!”

Kageyama had immediately trained his eyes directly on Kenma, and the earnestness of the other boy’s gaze made him feel like he’d been laid bare naked. It didn’t take long for a barrage of questions to come pouring out of Kageyama, all muttered in the same serious tone of voice that made them sound less like conversation and more like threats. 

“How long have you been playing volleyball? Who taught you? How long have you been setter? How do you train? How—?” 

It hadn’t taken long for him to piece together that this was the _grr_ and _bwah_ setter that Shouyou had talked about earlier, and he’d been left at a loss for words after the seemingly endless interrogation that Kageyama had sprung upon him. Deciding against better judgement, Kenma had slowly backed away instead, heading towards Kuro and trying to hide the fact that his ears were red with embarrassment. 

After that awkward first meeting, though, Kageyama had started relaxing more whenever all of them were hanging out together, and Kenma thought that he might see them becoming friends in the future. Scratch that, he _already_ considered him a friend—just as he considered everyone else in their impromptu group his friend. 

He looked around at all of them, then, breaking away from his thoughts for just a moment. Yaku and Kageyama looked like they were in a heated discussion about something that Kenma couldn’t quite pick up from where he was sitting, but Kuro was looking at them with an amused grin on his face, so he assumed that it couldn’t be something that serious. Shouyou was talking animatedly to Yachi about something that had taken place in class that day, and she responded with time-appropriate _oohs_ and _aahs_. Kenma smiled at the sight, despite himself. 

Kuro caught his eye from where he was sitting across from him, and grinned knowingly. Kenma’s smile only widened, which earned him a single-eyebrow raise from Kuro. He raised his own eyebrow in return, prompting Kuro to start wiggling both his eyebrows at him. Show-off. (Kenma lamented the loss of control he had over his eyebrows every single day.) 

It didn’t take long before the others caught sight of what they were doing, and the entire group ended up engaging in an impromptu battle of “Who can wiggle their eyebrows the most?” Kenma was forced to sit out after losing his first round against Yachi, who was somehow a secret eyebrow-wiggling genius. He’d like to say that he didn’t pout at his loss, but unfortunately, that would be a lie. Because he did. Heavily. 

Shouyou had laughed at him, and tried to move his own eyebrows in an attempt to one-up Yachi. He failed miserably—the most he could achieve was a weak eyebrow twitch that looked more like he was having an allergic reaction than anything else. The sight made Kenma giggle, and Shouyou looked like he was having trouble deciding between mourning his loss or beaming at his boyfriend. 

The rest of lunch continued like that, with Yachi emerging victorious after she defeated Kuro in an intense wiggle-off that lasted for almost three whole minutes. They all ended up losing track of time completely, and missed nearly half of their next class: but even while getting reprimanded in front of the entire class for his tardiness, Kenma found that he really didn’t care. His friends’ laughter was still ringing in his ears, and Shouyou’s grin was firmly etched in his mind—and, honestly? 

That was all he really needed. 

**Author's Note:**

>  **and that's a wrap!!**
> 
> writing this fic was a Wild Ride and it wouldn't have been possible without my friends so here is me being gay and sappy: **kaia** , thank you for holding my hand through this entire fic i think i'd have had multiple breakdowns if it wasn't for our writing sessions and your constant support I LOVE YOU!! **manny** , your comments on my doc made me so happy!!!! thank you for boosting my confidence in this fic by 200%, you're the best. and thank you to everyone on my priv twitter who had to deal with my Very Loud yelling about this fic 24/7, you guys are the real homies <3 
> 
> come talk to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/knifesbians)!! and have a lovely day hehe


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